Traditionally, November 11 is the best day we’ve had in the Midwest. We’ve killed a lot of nice deer on 11/11. The most memorable one we ever got was the 11-pointer my dad shot on 11/11/11. That was an incredible day. It never gets old thinking about it.
I saw a big 8 jump the fence first thing in the morning as he chased two does. Although he started coming right toward me, he changed his mind and went through a fence gap. I didn’t see him after that.
I decided to sit in another stand in the evening. The woods were really quiet. Not much happened until about a half hour before dark. That’s when I could hear a deer walking. Searching for the source of the noise, it took me longer to find it than I would have liked. When I spotted the deer walking, I instantly knew it was the Booner. As it was going away from me, I decided to turn the can call over in my pocket.
The buck turned around and started coming toward me. My knees began to shake as I got ready. When he got in the brush below me, I knew he had to make a choice about which way to go. If he went left he would end up right underneath me. If he went right, he would most likely go through the brush about 30 yards down the ridge.
Losing him for a second, I realized which way he went when I spotted him in the brush about 30 yards away. I drew the bow in case he changed directions, but I didn’t get that lucky. He continued walking until I could no longer see him.
He milled around in the leaves and grunted a few times. The grunts prompted me to grunt back to him. When I did, I could hear him coming. My breathing became shallow, and I got ready to draw the bow. I could hear the leaves crunching as he got closer, but he never made his way into the open area in front of me.
A few minutes later, I could hear him walking away from me. I knew my opportunity had passed. It’s not too often that you get within shooting distance of a legitimate Booner. It was an incredible experience.
Dad saw big buck and a small 10-pointer today. He didn’t shoot. He’s holding out for something bigger. He ended up seeing a few other small bucks before it got dark.
Brian worked on things all day. He did gather some information about a new place for us to check out for the future. It sounds like it could be a really good piece of public land.
It was about 43 degrees today and stayed in the 50s all day. Tomorrow is it. I’ll be headed home and dad and Brian will continue their vacation in Ohio, where they will meet Jeff and Doug.
Here’s a picture of the 11-pointer dad killed on 11/11/11
